Lewis County Sirens.com

Brenda Wing and her lawyer prepare to enter a guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Twenty-seven-year-old Brenda A. Wing pleaded guilty today to her role in last fall’s death of a 3-year-old toddler who was living with her, her husband and their three children in Vader.

Despite a hearing that lasted more than 45 minutes, no light was shed upon what happened to the little boy during his last days on earth.

Jasper Henderling-Warner was pronounced dead at Providence Centralia Hospital after medics and deputies responded to an evening call for an unconscious child on Oct. 5.

Brenda Wing had said she’d put the limp child into the bathtub to revive him after he’d been sleeping much of the day on their couch. But she also told detectives they’d just picked Jasper up from his mother in Woodland the night before.

She and her husband Danny A. Wing were both arrested and charged.

Detectives concluded the Wings had taken Jasper in much earlier, after his 21-year-old mother gave them temporary custody while she was homeless and looked for work out of state.

The sheriff called it severe abuse and neglect, the coroner labeled the cause of death as chronic battered child syndrome.

Brenda Wing this afternoon pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, to third-degree child assault and other offenses.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler read aloud her written statement of what she admitted to, and asked her if that was indeed her statement.

She admitted to, as an accomplice, recklessly causing the death of another person, and negligently causing bodily harm that caused substantial pain that extended for a period of time sufficient to cause considerable suffering to a child.

Danny A. Wing, 27, last month pleaded guilty also to first-degree manslaughter and third-degree child assault. He agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and remains jailed awaiting sentencing.

Both Wings avoided a much more serious charge of homicide by abuse by taking plea deals.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead and defense attorney John Crowley told the judge they’d like wait three weeks before they return to court to pick a date to sentence Brenda Wing.

Neither lawyer gave a reason for the delay.

“There’s other things going on with the case,” Halstead said after the hearing ended. “It doesn’t end just because they pled.”

The autopsy found numerous bruises, healing fractures and injuries such as trauma to Jasper’s face, and two lower front teeth missing. Prosecutors had multiple doctors lined up who were expected to testify at trial as to what caused the death.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod found also that the little boy was suffering from skin infections that were secondary to his cause of death.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has said prosecutors will recommend Danny Wing be sent to prison for 16 years and four months. Halstead today declined to share what he will recommend for Brenda Wing.

He said she faces a standard sentencing range of 12 to 16 years.

Brenda Wing also pleaded guilty today to two counts of witness tampering and two counts of possession of heroin, with all the offenses taking place between July 31 and Oct. 5 of last year.

Separately, the court today scheduled Danny Wing’s sentencing for Aug. 14, so far into the future in part because of his attorney’s availability, according to Halstead.

The sentencings will take place in front of Judge Nelson Hunt.
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For background, read “Second plea deal in the works in Vader toddler’s death” from Thursday April 30, 2015, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police are still looking for the Green Hill School inmate who apparently slipped away through a hole in the fence on Sunday night.

Dominic Adams began his time at the state run juvenile detention facility at age 15 for burglary, theft and assault convictions in Benton County, according to authorities.

Dominic Adams

Chehalis police said they suspect somebody in an older red car cut a hole in the fence and picked him up.

Chehalis Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said among the first steps were to learn where Adams had friends and family, and police subsequently found Adams’ previous home was in Kennewick, but he also had some addresses in California.

Now 19, Adams was finishing serving his juvenile sentence at Green Hill and next March was to be shipped off to adult prison for events that occurred in 2013.

He has an adult sentence of almost nine years waiting for him, according to Chris Wright, a spokesperson for the state Department of Social and Health Services.

Green Hill School in Chehalis is a secure facility for older juvenile boys incarcerated for felonies and operated by the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, under DSHS. It currently houses 173 inmate-students, according to Wright.

Almost two years ago during Adams’ stay at a minimum security community reentry program in Ellensburg, he and another kid beat up a staff member pretty bad, Wright said.

Adams was charged and convicted as an adult for the incident, according to Wright. The (Ellensburg) Daily Record reported in September 2013 that the two 17-year-olds were accused of jumping a staff member, tying him up, taking his keys and escaping.

Chehalis police today said detectives are continuing to check addresses and follow up in their attempt to find Adams.

He is described as 5-feet 9-inches tall and weighing 160 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.

A razor-wire topped fence surrounds the compound at the Southeast Intersection of Interstate 5 and 13th Street.

Both of the last two escapes have been through, not over, the fence.

Chehalis police were called at 9:01 p.m. on Sunday and told Adams ran off from a maintenance detail; and that staff subsequently located the breach in the fence. A staff member had seen an older red car in the area, honking its horn and flashing its lights, according to police.

Green Hill Superintendent Marybeth Queral had a department spokesperson return her calls to respond to inquiries about the incident. Spokesperson Wright also issued a news release that indicated the escape occurred at about 8:30 p.m.

Wright stated that Green Hill staff immediately notified the Chehalis Police Department.

Kaut said he was trying to find out if indeed, and then why, there may have been a delay in contacting police.
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“Green Hill inmate at large after fleeing through hole in fence” from Monday May 4, 2015, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 44-year-old man accused of firing a rifle towards his girlfriend as she ran away from him outside her trailer home in Onalaska was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison.

Todd H. Bergfalk made a so-called Alford plea, regarding two counts of second-degree assault.

Todd H. Bergfalk

His lawyer said because of inebriation, his client couldn’t recall enough to admit to specific events.

Bergfalk was arrested March 21, after deputies were called to the 700 block of state Route 508, and told he fired approximately 10 rounds from a 22 rifle, and also pointed the weapon at his girlfriend’s grown son. Deputies reported he was intoxicated and emotional, rambling about abused animals and told them they should just take him to jail.

Defense attorney David Arcuri said the original charges each included an “enhancement” that the offenses were committed with a firearm, but prosecutors dropped those as part of a plea dea. Each one of those would have meant an additional three years of incarceration, which are required to be served consecutive to the sentence, Arcuri said.

The standard sentencing range for second-degree assault is 12 to 14 months, and the two sides agreed to the low end, as did the judge today in Lewis County Superior Court. Bergfalk had no previous felonies, Arcuri said.

Neither charging documents nor the sheriff’s office indicated why he may have been upset, and Arcuri said outside the courtroom he wasn’t going to talk about that.

The sheriff’s office said Bergfalk lives in Tacoma. He gave his home address as Onalaska in court documents.

He will be under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections for three years after his release, Arcuri said.
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For background, read, “May trial set for boyfriend’s rampage with 22 rifle in Onalaska” from Friday March 27, 2015, here